Diabolic Plot

France's warning to Libya

We are a popular committee that has come to free you from a dictatorial regime, and here are your arms." This call to revolt was issued by 30 armed men who sneaked across the Algerian border early last week and made their way to the phosphate mining town of Gafsa (pop. 30,000) in central Tunisia. Joined there by 20 confederates, the invaders tried to seize Gafsa's civil and military installations. The local populace refused to join the insurrection, but it took Tunisian troops 20 hours to subdue the commandos. The battle left 41 men dead and more than 100 wounded.

Tunisian Interior Minister Othman Kechrid accused Libya of launching the attack in an attempt to overthrow ailing President Habib Bourguiba, 76. Though he did not mention Tunisia's oil-rich eastern neighbor by name, Kechrid clearly had Libya in mind when he denounced "a neighboring state specializing in this kind of operation." Premier Hedi Nouira also accused Libyan Strongman Muammar Gaddafi of "a diabolic plot" to make it appear that Algeria was responsible for the attack. The Tunisians expelled the Libyan ambassador and withdrew their own envoy from Tripoli, a move just short of breaking diplomatic relations.

Libyan authorities expressed "astonishment" at the Tunisian charges. But hostility and distrust between the two countries have been simmering ever since Bourguiba abruptly backed out of a 1974 agreement to merge Tunisia with Libya in a single Islamic Arab Republic. According to Tunisian sources, Gaddafi continues to harbor a deep personal resentment over the incident, and has supported several previous attempts to engineer Bourguiba's downfall.

One consequence of the attack was the sudden appearance of a formidable Tunisian supporter: France. The French keep a fatherly eye on many of their onetime colonies and protectorates in Africa: last year, for example, Paris dispatched troops to help Chad put down a Libya-backed rebellion. Shortly after last week's clash in Gafsa, three French Navy warships--a cruiser, a frigate and an escort vessel --slipped out of their Mediterranean base at Toulon. The government claimed they were headed for maneuvers near Crete, but officials suggested that the ships would first "show themselves" off the Tunisian coast. In addition, the French have apparently sent transport planes and helicopters to Tunisia. Washington reinforced Paris' implicit warning to Libya against destabilizing Tunisia. The State Department announced that emergency short-term military aid to the country would be forthcoming in light of its "urgent" situation.

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